June102015

June092015

“not all men!” but all women are bad drivers and all women are moody and all women are emotional and all women get to be painted with the same brush but don’t you dare generalise men that’s unfair!!!!!!!!

You know how 1st world feminists get told that they don’t need feminism? They’re told that they should be glad they’re not “really oppressed” like the women in 3rd world countries. That things could always be worse.

You know what my mother tells me? She says I don’t need feminism because I should be glad I’m born in an urban city of Pakistan. She says, at least I wasn’t born in a rural area where girls are married off to men twice their age. That things could always be worse.

And our house maid, Shabana, who was married to her uncle at 15 and, at 18, has 2 children, she doesn’t even know what feminism is. She was told by her father that she should be glad her husband doesn’t beat her and hasn’t thrown tehzaab (acid) at her. That things could always be worse.

June062015

June032015

A random guy paid me a compliment and why it was okay

So, in starbucks today, a random guy came up to my and told me I was very pretty and nice eyes.

And, as a feminist, I was okay with it.

Because he did it correctly.

He stood four feet away from me and started out with “excuse me” and waited until I nodded before approaching. He then introduced himself and we shook hands and then he gave a compliment and went on his way.

He didnt catcall. He didnt harass. He didnt use inappropriate language. He asked for permission.

Take note, gentlemen.

i just loved the fact that he actually WAITED for her CONSENT

BEFORE approaching her

and not only that

he didn’t sexualize her

i mean

finally, someone gets it

I feel like this is important to share, because we get so much shit from guys who are like “so what, we can’t EVER compliment a woman without it being harassment??” No. No one said that. I have received compliments and I have received street harassment, and I promise you I can tell you which is which.

May312015

When Brazilian graphic designer Carol Rossetti began posting colorful illustrations of women and their stories to Facebook, she had no idea how popular they would become.

Thousands of shares throughout the world later, the appeal of Rosetti’s work is clear. Much like the street art phenomenon Stop Telling Women To Smile, Rossetti’s empowering images are the kind you want to post on every street corner, as both a reminder and affirmation of women’s bodily autonomy.

“It has always bothered me, the world’s attempts to control women’s bodies, behavior and identities,” Rossetti told Mic via email. “It’s a kind of oppression so deeply entangled in our culture that most people don’t even see it’s there, and how cruel it can be.”

Rossetti’s illustrations touch upon an impressive range of intersectional topics, including LGBTQ identity, body image, ageism, racism, sexism and ableism. Some characters are based on the experiences of friends or her own life, while others draw inspiration from the stories many women have shared across the Internet.

“I see those situations I portray every day,” she wrote. “I lived some of them myself.” (keep reading)

May272015

“When the first patrol wagon arrived, Inspector Pine recalled that
the crowd—most of whom were homosexual—had grown to at least ten times
the number of people who were arrested, and they all became very quiet. Confusion
over radio communication delayed the arrival of a second wagon. The
police began escorting Mafia members into the first wagon, to the cheers
of the bystanders. Next, regular employees were loaded into the wagon. A bystander shouted, “Gay power!”, someone began singing “We Shall Overcome”,
and the crowd reacted with amusement and general good humor mixed with
“growing and intensive hostility”. An officer shoved a transvestite, who
responded by hitting him on the head with her purse as the crowd began
to boo. Author Edmund White,
who had been passing by, recalled, “Everyone’s restless, angry, and
high-spirited. No one has a slogan, no one even has an attitude, but
something’s brewing.“ Pennies, then beer bottles, were thrown at the
wagon as a rumor spread through the crowd that patrons still inside the
bar were being beaten.

A scuffle broke out when a woman in handcuffs was escorted from
the door of the bar to the waiting police wagon several times. She
escaped repeatedly and fought with four of the police, swearing and
shouting, for about ten minutes. Described as “a typical New York butch”
and “a dyke–stone butch”, she had been hit on the head by an officer
with a baton for,
as one witness claimed, complaining that her handcuffs were too
tight. Bystanders recalled that the woman, whose identity remains
unknown (Stormé DeLarverie has
been identified by some, including herself, as the woman, but accounts
vary), sparked the crowd to fight when she looked at bystanders and
shouted, “Why don’t you guys do something?” After an officer picked her
up and heaved her into the back of the wagon, the crowd became a mob and
went “berserk”: “It was at that moment that the scene became
explosive.”